The Celebrity Archaeology Podcast

PODCAST EPISODE 23 - Sweet Caroline

"Sweet Caroline" is this episode's
cover photograph from 1978. Young
Caroline A young Caroline Bouvier Kennedy warmed America's hearts
as part of the First Family in the early 1960's. The adorable child
had blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles. She was photographed
riding her pony Macaroni on the White House lawn, disrupting her
father's pressconference while wearing her
mother's high heels, hiding with her younger brother John under her
father's Oval Office desk and greeting the original seven
astronauts. A photograph of the beautiful Caroline at this time
inspired singer/songwriter Neil Diamond to compose the popular tune
"Sweet Caroline." In her teens, she was gawky. She didn't inherit
her father's outgoing personality and quick wit nor her mother's
striking beauty and sense of fashion. But she did inherit their
intellects. Unlike her brother John, she craved her privacy,
shunned and had no rapport with the press. She instead became a
serious student and Columbia Law School graduate. The author
Caroline is the prolific author of nine New York times Best-Selling
books on Constitutional law, American history, politics and poetry.
Her highest honor to date is being awarded the Ambassadorship to
Japan by President Obama from 2013-2017. From the beginning,
Caroline was doted on by her parents, John F. Kennedy and
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy after they suffered through a
miscarriage and stillborn birth of earlier children. For the first
three years of her life she lived in Georgetown when her father was
a Senator. At age 3, she moved to the White House and became part
of the First Family. To accommodate her, kindergarten classes were
set up on the third floor of the White House. The Age of Camelot
The two short years of the Kennedy Administration now known as "The
Age of Camelot" came to an abrupt end with her father's
assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Her mother moved the
children back to Georgetown but the house they were living in
became a tourist attraction and they had to keep the blinds drawn.
A move to 1040 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan gave them the autonomy
they were seeking-to a certain extent. Caroline had a very strict
upbringing in her teens. her mother kept a sharp eye on both
Caroline and her brother John limiting their time with the wild
Kennedy cousins who were part of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy's brood.
In 1975, Caroline narrowly escaped an IRA car bombing in London
when a bomb exploded in a parked car belonging to her hosts Hugh
and Antonia Fraser. She was taking a year-long art course at
Sotheby's at the time. Another tragic event for Caroline came in
June 1968 when her Uncle Bobby (Robert F. Kennedy) was also
murdered while running for President. Bobby had been a surrogate
father to Caroline and her brother since JFK's death. Her mother
said at this time: "If they're killing Kennedys, then my children
are targets. I want to get out of the country." Aristotle Onassis
The revered widow shocked the world when she turned to Greek
Aristotle Onassis-the richest man in the world- for her next
husband. His worth was said to be a staggering $1 billion dollars.
The 5'4", dark-skinned Turkish-born Onassis was 62 years old and
5'9" Jackie was 39 when they wed. When photographed together they
looked like an odd couple. But after being married to the President
of the United States, who else would she marry but the world's
richest man? It has been written that "their marriage 'was an legal
arrrangement' which served the personal interests of both. He would
give her the protection she craved and she would be his 'trophy
wife.” For Caroline, Ari Onassis would turn out to be a devoted
stepdad who was very generous to her. With her mother's new
marriage, she would spend her summers and school vacations on the
privately-owned Onassis Greek island of Skorpios. During the school
year, she would be living back in her NY penthouse. Her mother
would be married to Onassis until his death but rumors were out
there that they had both consulted divorce attorneys. Caroline's
wedding In 1996, Irish/Catholic Caroline married Jewish Edwin
Schlossburg in an wedding dress designed by Carolina Herrera. The
long bodice was embroidered with white shamrocks as a tribute to
her father. Caroline and Edwin met when she was working at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Caroline said: "Falling in love with my
husband was by far the best thing that's ever happened to me.."
Edwin is President of Edwin Schlossberg, Inc.-a design company that
specializes in interactive exhibit designs and museum
master-planning. The couple have three children: Rose, Tatiana and
John. Two more tragedies would occur and leave Caroline as the only
surviving member of the Kennedy First Family. Her mother Jacqueline
died at age 64 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and her brother John
died in a place crash in 1999. John had been piloting his plane
that carried wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren. They all
perished in the ocean off of Martha's Vineyard. John was enroute to
a Kennedy cousin wedding in Hyannis Port. Caroline served as Vice
Chair of the Fund for Public Schools and helped raise over $280
million for the children in New York City. She is also Honorary
President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. When Hillary
Clinton's Senate seat was vacant due to her appointment as
Secretary of State, Caroline made speeches around the state hoping
to draw support for herself on the upcoming ballot. But she lacked
the charisma and wasn't a big draw. She made the decision to drop
out of the running for "personal reasons." Presidential candidate
Barack Obama asked Caroline to serve on a committee to help choose
a vice-president for him. Obama later awarded Caroline with the
position of Ambassador to Japan. Links: The Book: https://amzn.to/2HrXUUS The Podcast
on iTunes: https://apple.co/2HGtPQZ Hear, rate
and review the Podcast in iTunes! The site: http://CelebrityArchaeology.com/podcastepisode23